Good morning and welcome to the artist's morning.
My name's Darius and I'm so excited and honored to be here with you this morning.
Wherever you are in the world,
We are here together.
With today's meditation we're going to try something new and different.
For those of you that come to artist's morning live,
You know Fridays are special for me.
I call them risky Fridays.
It's an opportunity,
Permission to myself to take one element and tinker.
Experiment and explore with one piece of the meditation.
Today's risky Friday creative risk will be that most of this meditation will actually not have music.
Something I haven't done before.
And maybe it'll work and maybe it won't.
But the point is,
I can play.
I can explore,
I can expand,
I can try things.
Sometimes those things lead to something amazing that I would have never discovered otherwise.
Sometimes they take me to places that I was not expecting.
Regardless of what happens,
Each time I get braver,
Each time I get more curious,
Each time my inner artist feels fueled because he is able to play.
Another thing that happens with these risky Fridays are an opportunity arises for me to remember that my worth,
My value is not connected to my outcome or my output.
With that,
Let's begin the meditation.
Wherever you are,
Let's take a moment just to land.
Land in your seat.
Land in your body.
Let's take a moment just to observe the silence,
The quiet,
Maybe even the noise that exists here in this moment.
Bringing your attention to any sounds you can hear.
As we slow things down and we go deeper into our inner world.
Just taking a moment to connect with our physical body.
Scanning from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet.
And just noticing any sensations in your body.
Does the quiet,
Does the silence bring anything up for you?
Maybe it allows you to go deeper.
Maybe it brings things that are deep up to the surface.
This first part of the meditation,
Just observe what's here,
What's real for you.
Let's bring some softness,
Some gentleness to our head now.
This beautiful part of our body,
Of our human experience that works so hard all the time.
Soften your forehead.
Soften the muscles around your eyes now.
Your nose,
Your cheekbones.
What does it feel like to soften your lips and your jaw?
Really just letting any tension just drop and melt away.
Continuing that softness down your shoulders,
Down your arms,
Your back.
Down your legs,
Thighs,
Your shins,
All the way down into your toes.
With today's meditation,
I'd like to take us to a very particular space.
We're going to travel through time and space together.
I want you to imagine a beautiful summer home by the lake.
As you walk down the back,
There's a deck that leads out into the lake.
Let's walk to the edge of this deck,
Looking out at this beautiful scene,
This lake with gentle water.
The sun is out and it's so soothing and warm.
When you look out into the lake,
There's nobody there.
It's just quiet.
The early mornings.
It's just you and the birds and the gentle sounds of the water.
And at the end of the dock,
There's a cushion.
Someone has placed out everything you need to sit down and meditate in absolute comfort this morning.
When you're ready,
Take a seat and get comfortable.
Can you hear the waves?
They're very small and gentle but so soothing.
Can you hear the birds singing?
When you close your eyes here,
Can you feel and see the glow,
The warm orange glow of the sun even with your eyes closed?
Did you feel that breeze?
What an incredible place we found this morning.
Let's take a couple deep breaths here together,
Holding at the top,
Allowing us really to bring our awareness to our inner world with the breath.
Before we do,
Just get nice and comfortable here.
Alright,
Let's take a couple juicy,
Comforting breaths together.
Breathing in,
Holding at the top,
Holding,
Holding,
And then letting it all go.
Holding at the bottom,
Holding,
Holding.
Breathing in again,
Deeper breath this time,
Holding at the top,
Holding,
Holding,
And letting all of it go,
Holding at the bottom just for a few seconds.
And our last big deep breath,
The biggest one you've taken all day.
Here we go.
Breathing in,
Holding at the top,
And then taking even a bigger breath in at the top,
Holding for two more seconds,
And letting all of it go.
Keep breathing at your normal pace now,
Noticing if anything's changed.
Often box breathing like we were just doing allows you to dial in deeper into yourself,
Into your heart.
And in this beautiful place we find ourselves this morning,
I want you just to take in how free it feels here.
There are no screens here.
There is no internet connection in this spot.
There's no such thing as a mask here or social distancing here.
What's it like to experience that level of freedom?
What's it like to be in nature and feel all of her loving embraces,
The warmth of the sun,
The songs she sings to you with the birds,
The way she whispers down your back through a breeze,
The stability and support available to you here.
Often our meditation will come to an end and that's okay.
I invite you to take a few more deep breaths and soak in the nature,
This little mini vacation we have taken together.
Take it all in.
Is there anything this experience has shown you?
Is there any message mother nature has for you this morning?
Really take a moment to listen.
Maybe she'll speak through words or maybe it's a sensation.
My belief is she has something for you here.
And lastly,
If there's something you want to share with her,
If there's something your heart longs to say to her,
To express to her for all she does,
I'll give you a moment to let her know.
Bravo,
Dear artist.
Bravo,
Dear creator.
Wherever you went,
However close you and mother nature decided to be this morning,
I am so grateful that we got this time together.
I'm so grateful that you indulged me in my silly,
Risky Friday risk.
Maybe you too will decide to tinker and explore and experiment today.
Maybe it's not today,
Maybe it's next Friday.
Who knows?
The invitation is always open for you to give yourself permission to play.
As always,
For those of you joining us live,
I'll put 15 minutes on the clock and allow you to do some private personal journaling.
If you're catching us on a replay,
You can do the same,
Put 15 minutes on your own clock and see what's here.
See what came up for you.
My name's Darius.
Thank you for meditating with me and we will see you next time.
